Pakistan 11th June - 31st July (1 Viewer)

Pakistan 11th June - 31st July 2006

OK, this report is slightly brief, but given the lack of trip reports for Pakistan it may be of interest. I saw about 125 species in seven weeks (not there primarily for birding), with some of the more interesting sightings being:

Long-billed Bush Warbler - Askole, Baltoro valley. Several individuals. Distinctive mechanical sounding call.
Spanish Sparrow - two males in late June at Paiju (below Baltoro glacier) - my book (Helm pocket guide to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent) tells me that this species does not breed in Pakistan, but I suspect that these were breeding given the time of year. There were lots of house sparrows around too, so there may have been female spanish sparrows amongst them - I didn't look.
Robin Accentor - Urdukas (beside Baltoro glacier)
Blue-fronted Redstart - Urdukas, female and juveniles
Red-fronted Rosefinch - Urdukas
Streaked Rosefinch - male, below Urdukas
Great Rosefinch - female, below Urdukas, by white sides to tail.
Sulphur-bellied Warbler - Baltoro valley. My book says these have a soft 'quip' call. Some did but some had a much more strident four part call, might have been slightly larger, and had very pink legs. At the time I thought these were a separate species, but there's no candidate in the book.
White-winged Redstart - pair on Baltoro Glacier
Wallcreeper - Hunza
White-capped Bunting - Hunza
Western Crowned Warbler - Hunza
Dark-sided Flycatcher - Skardu, 15th June
Blue-capped Redstart - juvenile at Rawal Lake
Dozens of thrushes on 18th July in a wood at Skardu. Plain-backed I think, although they seemed more song thrush in size.
Grey Bushchat - a pair on 25th July in a clearing on top of a hill near Nathiagali (near Murree) - my book suggests that these are quite rare in Pakistan, yet I suspect these two were breeding.
Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler - Nathiagali
Common Hawk Cuckoo - Gilgit


NO ibisbill. :storm:


If you think any of the IDs are suspect or have any other comments, I'd be glad to hear from you.

Arbu

Looks as if you had a good time,did you get any pictures of them.

Nice stuff Arbu, and great scenery of course.
I had long-billed bush warbler at Hushe in '97.
Sulphur-bellied warbler tends to creep around on rocks, Tickell's more in scrub. My wife jokes that the latter sounds as if its call is "tick, tick, tickell" which may be your more strident larger species (seems longer tailed than sulphur-bellied).
Everything else seems plausible enough.

Rob

Thanks. No photos I'm afraid. Trying to see and identify the birds in the first place seems to take up enough time without photographing them. One day maybe I'll get into it.

edenwatcher, thanks for the info. The fieldbook shows Tickell's as being much greener on its back than Sulphur-bellied, which I didn't observe. But in a lot of the photos on the Internet the back is actually quite brown. So on the basis of what you say and that, I'm sure that I did see some Tickell's as well as Sulphur-bellied.

off the beaten track

Arbu said:

OK, this report is slightly brief, but given the lack of trip reports for Pakistan it may be of interest. I saw about 125 species in seven weeks (not there primarily for birding)...

Click to expand...

It's great to get information on other than the usual destinations. If you have time, tell us something about the sites and habitat, and birding there.
Steve Greenfield

tapaculo said:

It's great to get information on other than the usual destinations. If you have time, tell us something about the sites and habitat, and birding there.
Steve Greenfield

Click to expand...

OK, my trip was from 11th June to 31st July and I went mostly to the mountains, which begin north of Islamabad (I was actually there for a mountaineering trip, birding was secondary). With the exception of areas close to Islamabad, which are affected by the monsoon, the mountains are extremely dry, and any birds tend to be concentrated in small patches of greenery. These take the form of occasional wooded areas near stream and irrigated orchards in the Hunza (I went to Karimabad, the main centre there). The orchards are delightful - I saw Western crowned Warbler and Chestnut breasted Bunting there and in retrospect should have spent longer birding in them and I might have seen more.

For the approach to the mountains, we drove from Skardu to Askole (6-7 hours by 4WD). At Askole there were quite a few Long-billed Bush Warblers around in the scub between the fields. I'd also recommend Urdukas, which is an area of greenery adjacent to the Baltoro Glacier. It has stunning views across the glacier to the Trango Towers, and I saw Tickell's Leaf Warbler, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Robin Accentor, Snow Pigeon, Red-fronted Rosefinch and Blue-fronted Redstart there, and Great Rosefinch, Streaked Rosefinch and White-winged Redstart nearby. However it is three days' walk from the roadhead at Askole. Above Urdukas you can see Brand't and Plain Mountain Finches and ravens, but not much else.

At Skardu itself, I found the woods below the K2 motel to be good, with Dark-sided flycatcher and Plain-backed and Tickell's thrush. I also went to nearby Satpara Lake, which everyone in Pakistan will tell you is extremely beautiful. I didn't think it was (partly because they are damming its outlet and partly because it's in rather a barren valley) and I didn't see much in the way of birds.

You can go birding in the mountains just north of Islamabad in the "Galis" which I did fon 25th July at Dungagarli and Nathiagali, but it wasn't very good because it was the monsoon and the whole area was in thick cloud, so visibility was very poor. But I did see Himalayan woodpecker and Blue-billed magpie. Also, Rawal Lake on the outskirts of Islamabad is good and I went there twice, on 12th June and 26th July

Here's a full list:

Himalayan Snowcock (just one, flying overhead at Paiju)
Himalayan Woodpecker (several at Dunagagarli)
Scaly-breasted Woodpecker (widespread wherever there were trees)
Black-rumped Flameback (Rawal Lake)
Great Barbet (quite common at Dungagarli)
Indian Grey-Hornbill (Lahore)
Eurasian Hoopoe
European Roller
Indian Roller
Common Kingfisher
White-throated Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Little Green Bee-eater
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
Pied Cuckoo
Common Hawk-Cuckoo (one in tree at Gilgit)
Asian Koel
Greater Coucal
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Alpine Swift (not in the mountains, surprisingly - Taxila and Chattar Plain)
Common Swift (commonest swift in the north)
House Swift
Hill Pigeon (just one, flying down Baltoro valley)
Snow Pigeon (roosting in bushes at Urdukas)
Oriental Turtle-Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-breasted Waterhen
Common Coot
Common Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Little Ringed Plover
Red-wattled Lapwing
Black-bellied Tern (plenty at Rawal Lake on second visit)
Black Kite
White-eyed Buzzard
Booted Eagle
Common Kestrel
Eurasian Hobby (Rawal Lake, first visit)
Peregrine Falcon (pair near Askole)
Little Cormorant
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Indian Pond-Heron
Bay-backed Shrike
Long-tailed Shrike
Rufous Treepie
Eurasian Magpie
Yellow-billed Magpie (Dungagarli)
Red-billed Chough
Yellow-billed Chough
House Crow
Hooded Crow
Large-billed Crow
Common Raven
Eurasian Golden-Oriole (Everywhere at Skardu)
Black Drongo
Common Woodshrike
Brown Dipper
Blue Rock-Thrush
Blue Whistling-Thrush
Plain-backed Thrush (dozens in woods at Skardu, 19th July)
Tickell's Thrush (Woods by river at Skardu, 15th June)
Mistle Thrush
Dark-sided Flycatcher (Woods at Skardu, 15th June)
Oriental Magpie-Robin
Blue-capped Redstart (juv. at Rawal Lake, second visit)
Black Redstart
White-winged Redstart (pair by stream on Baltoro glacier at ~4000m)
Blue-fronted Redstart (female with juvs at Urdukas)
White-capped Water-Redstart (several in gorge above Karimabad)
Plumbeous Water-Redstart (stream below Kargah buddah, Gilgit)
Siberian Stonechat (Karimabad)
Pied Bushchat (top of hill, Dungagarli)
Grey Bushchat
Variable Wheatear
Pied Wheatear
Indian Chat (Jehangir's tomb, Lahore)
Common Starling
Common Myna
Bank Myna (one or two with common mynas, Taxila)
Wallcreeper (one, gorge above Karimabad, 22nd July)
Black-crested Tit
Great Tit
Green-backed Tit
Plain Martin
Eurasian Crag-Martin
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Northern House-Martin
Red-whiskered Bulbul
White-eared Bulbul
Black Bulbul
Yellow-bellied Prinia (Rawal Lake)
Plain Prinia
Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler (Dungagarli)
Mountain Chiffchaff
Tickell's Leaf-Warbler (Urdukas in shrubs)
Sulphur-bellied Warbler (relatively common)
Western Crowned-Warbler (several in meadow at Karimabad)
Long-billed Bush Warbler (several as Askole)
Streaked Laughingthrush (widespread)
Lesser Whitethroat
Purple Sunbird
House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow (two males at Paiju, below Urdukas, 20th June)
Russet Sparrow (Nathiagali)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
White Wagtail
Citrine Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Paddyfield Pipit
Robin Accentor (Urdukas)
Brown Accentor (Fairly common above 4000m)
Fire-fronted Serin (Common)
European Goldfinch
Plain Mountain-Finch
Black-headed Mountain-Finch
Common Rosefinch
Streaked Rosefinch (Below Urdukas)
Great Rosefinch (female below Urdukas, by white on tail)
Red-fronted Rosefinch (males perching on rocks at Urdukas)
Chestnut-breasted Bunting (meadow at Karimabad)
Rock Bunting

123

Mammals:
Monkey at Nathiagali
Pika species at Askole.
Palm squirrel
Apparently there used to be lots of large mammals in the mountains, but guns are so readily available in Pakistan, and hunting laws so little enforced, that they have nearly all been shot. I didn't see any.